94 
PLIKY's natural HISTOllT. 
[Book XXV. 
a handful of this plant is boiled down to one half, in two 
sextarii of water, the decoction being taken with salt and 
honey : if a pig's foot or a cock is boiled with it, it will be all 
the more beneficial. Some persons have been of opinion, that 
as a purgative the two kinds of mercurialis ought to be used 
together, or else that a decoction should be made of the plant 
in combination with mallows. These plants act as a detergent 
upon the chest, and carrj off the bilious secretions, but they are 
apt to be injurious to the stomach. We shall have to speak 
further of their properties on the appropriate occasions.^^ 
CHAP. 19. THE ACHTLLEOS, SIDEKITTS, PANACES HEEACLEON, 
3riLLEF0LIUM, OR SCOP^ REGI^^: ; SIX VARIETIES OF IT I 
THREE REMEDIES. 
Achilles too, the pupil of Chiron, discovered a plant which 
heals wounds, and which, as being his discovery, is known as 
the achilleos." It was by the aid of this plant, they say. 
that he cured Telephus. Other authorities, however, assert that 
he was the first^^ to discover that verdigris*^^ is an extremely 
useful ingredient in plasters ; and hence it is that he is some- 
times represented in pictures as scraping with his sword the 
rust from off a spear^^ into the wound of Telephus. Some again, 
are of opinion that he made use of both remedies. 
By some persons this plant is called '^panaces heracleon," 
by others, sideritis,"^* and by the people of our country, 
millefolium : the stalk of it, they say, is a cubit in length, 
branchy, and covered from the bottom with leaves somewhat 
smaller than those of fennel. Other authorities, hov/ever, 
while admitting that this last plant is good for wounds, affirm 
that the genuine achilleos has a bluish stem a foot in length, 
B. xxvi. cc, 74, 76, 89. 
8^ Both stories are equally improbable. 
See B. xxxiv. c. 45. 
S6 The weapons in early time, it must be remembered, were .made of 
copper or bronze. 
The third Sideritis of Dioscorides is thought to be the same with the 
Ileracleon siderion of c. 15 of this Book. Pliny evidently confounds the 
Achillea and the Sideritis, totally different plants. The Achillea is identified 
by Fee with the Achillea tomentosa or abrotonifolia of Linnaeus. As to 
the Sideritis, see B. xxvi. c. 12. The real Panaces heracleon has beea 
mentioned in c. 12 of this Book. 
8« Or' >v'*Thousand leaves," probably identical with the Achillea mille- 
folium of Linnaeus, milfoil or yarrow. See B. xxiv. c. 9^5. 
